Idaho Inmates Sue Beer, Wine Companies for $1B

This is a discussion on Idaho Inmates Sue Beer, Wine Companies for $1B within the Off Topic & Humor Discussion forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Five Idaho inmates are blaming alcohol for the crimes that put them in prison and are suing some of the nation’s top liquor and wine ...

Idaho Inmates Sue Beer, Wine Companies for $1B

Five Idaho inmates are blaming alcohol for the crimes that put them in prison and are suing some of the nation’s top liquor and wine companies for $1 billion.

Keith Allen Brown, Steven Thompson, Woodrow Grant, Cory Baugh and Jeremy Brown all claim that alcohol led them to their crimes and they should have been warned of the beverages’ addictive nature.

“If I was not an alcoholic, the shooting would never have happened,” Jeremy Brown said in his affidavit. Brown, 34, is serving a 20- to 30-year sentence for a 2001 shooting that seriously injured a man. The plaintiffs’ crimes range from manslaughter to grand theft. They are currently serving time at Idaho’s Kuna facility.

Their lawsuit, filed in Boise’s U.S. District Court last month, targets eight defendants, including Anheuser-Busch, Coors, Miller Brewing and the owner of Jim Beam whiskey, American Brands. The inmates claim the companies are responsible for their crimes and should have put warning labels on their products.

Yep, they are not responsible for their own stupidity it’s someone eleses fault, they are just innocent victims. Maybe the judge will tack on another year or two to their sentences for wasting the courts time.

If the government can blame guns and gun manufacturers for gun violence, and get away with it...why not blame alcohol companies for crimes committed while under the influence. The example that the government has set is that nobody is responsible for their own actions, its always someone else's fault...the government doesn't even take responsibility for making the country 16 trillion in debt. Makes me sick...what happened to this country.

These types of frivelous lawsuits are often filed by the "jailhouse lawyers" themselves, as is so in this case I believe. That's what happens when they gain access to the prison legal library for the wrong reasons. I see no future in this case other than a quick dismissal--or I hope so.

Probably don't have an attorney but an inmate legal aide doing the work. You'd be amazed at how good some of those guys are. I'm sure it won't go any where but I'm glad they filed the lawsuit. It gave me a good laugh!

States cannot interfere with the right of a prisoner to petition a court for relief. Neither a state nor a prison official can refuse, for any reason, to review a prisoner's applications and submit them to federal court. In addition, a state is not permitted to prohibit prisoners from having law books or legal papers in their cells on the basis that such materials tempt other prisoners to steal or create a fire hazard. If a prisoner is indigent, the state cannot require him to pay even a small fee to file legal papers with the court. However, a prisoner association cannot have filing fees waived. The right to proceed as an indigent party is allowed only for individual prisoners.

Prisoners have a fundamental right to legal counsel that requires special consideration. Prison officials must allow reasonable times and places for prisoners to communicate confidentially with their attorneys. Prisoners who cannot afford an attorney generally turn to fellow inmates who are experienced in arguing their own cases. Assistance from these jailhouse lawyers was forbidden in most prisons until 1969, when the Supreme Court, in Johnson v. Avery, 393 U.S. 483, 89 S. Ct. 747, 21 L. Ed. 2d 718, held that prisons cannot completely forbid inmate assistance unless there is an alternative for prisoners.

Prisoners must be provided with writing materials and law books. Additionally, prisoners must be able to have their legal papers notarized.

This is very typical of the waste of money that goes on in prisons. These lawsuits cost US a fortune in wasted time, funds, personnel and clog up the courts. The prisoners have lots of time on their hands and filing a suit is free and probably very entertaining for them.

I bet the ACLU takes up their cause...another total waste of taxpayer money.

People sued the Tobacco companies and won even though each person willingly put in in their mouth and smoked it. There's been warning on tobacco since I was a little boy. My dad called them "cancer sticks" yet the lawyers won some, not all, of the cases.

... These lawsuits cost US a fortune in wasted time, funds, personnel and clog up the courts. The prisoners have lots of time on their hands and filing a suit is free and probably very entertaining for them.

More so than you think JL. Just who do you think pays for Anheuser Busch's lawyers?

One of the companies I worked for maintained a staff of more than a dozen attorneys, just to handle lawsuits. Yes, legal costs got calculated every year when I reviewed, and instituted, price changes.